Yan Lu receives a professorship at the University of Potsdam
Prof. Dr. Yan Lu receives a professorship at the University of Potsdam
Dr. Yan Lu is a group leader at the Institute for “Soft Matter and Functional Materials”. At HZB, she is researching functional hybrid materials that consist of colloid particles. As of 1 April 2017, Yan Lu has been appointed as W2 Professor for Polymer-based Hybrid Materials at the University of Potsdam.
Yan Lu is an experienced expert in the field of colloid chemistry. With her group, she is developing colloid materials for energy storage, catalysts, sensors, solar cells and optical components. Her joint appointment by HZB and the Institute of Chemistry of the University of Potsdam further reinforces the networking between the two institutes. Yan Lu will continue to supervise her workgroup at HZB while also teaching at the University.
Short biography:
Prof. Dr. Yan Lu has worked at the Institute for “Soft Matter and Functional Materials” at HZB since 2009. Before that, she was a postdoc and research assistant at the Chair of Physical Chemistry at the University of Bayreuth. She completed her doctor’s degree from 2001 to 2005 at Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Technische Universität Dresden. Yan Lu completed her Master’s degree in materials science at Donghua University in Shanghai, China.
- Helmholtz Doctoral Award for Hanna TrzesniowskiDuring her doctoral studies at the Helmholtz Centre Berlin, Hanna Trzesniowski conducted research on nickel-based electrocatalysts for water splitting. Her work contributes to a deeper understanding of alkaline water electrolysis and paves the way for the development of more efficient and stable catalysts. On 8 July 2025, she received the Helmholtz Doctoral Prize, which honours the best and most original doctoral theses in the Helmholtz Association.
- New department at HZB: ‘AI and Biomolecular Structures’Since 1 July 2025, Dr. Andrea Thorn has been setting up the new AI and Biomolecular Structures department at HZB. A biophysicist with many years of experience in AI-based tools for structural biology, she is looking forward to collaborating closely with the macromolecular crystallography team at the MX beamlines of BESSY II.
- Almost 4,000 People at the Long Night of the Sciences at HZBHelmholtz-Zentrum Berlin was delighted to welcome nearly 4,000 visitors to its Adlershof campus for the Long Night of the Sciences. It was a fantastic celebration of science, and we thank all our guests for their great interest.